While tributes to Americans who had lost their lives in battle had been held in a number of towns across the nation one of the more well-known stories about the beginnings of Memorial Day is the story about General John Logan.
When the British came to Ibo land for instance at the beginning of the 20th century and defeated the men in pitched battles in different places and set up their administrations the men surrendered. And it was the women who led the first revolt.
You don't argue with a four-year old about why he shouldn't eat candy for dinner. You don't punch a mentally handicapped guy even if he punches you first. And you don't argue when a women tells you she's only making 80 cents to your dollar. It's the path of least resistance. You save your energy for more important battles.
The battle for the individual rights of women is one of long standing and none of us should countenance anything which undermines it.
Women are frightening. If you get to 41 as a man you're quite battle-scarred.
The Wedding March always reminds me of the music played when soldiers go into battle.
The heroes of Flight 93 won the first battle in the War on Terror and they should never be forgotten.
During the Cold War we were interested because we were scared that Russia and the United States were going to go to war. We were scared that Russia was going to take over the world. Every country became a battleground.
War consisteth not in battle only or the act of fighting but in a tract of time wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known.
We've got to keep an eye on the battle that we face - a war on workers. And you see it everywhere. It is the Tea Party. And there's only one way to beat and win that war - the one thing about working people is we like a good fight.
The battle for the mind of Ronald Reagan was like the trench warfare of World War I: never have so many fought so hard for such barren terrain.
Being over seventy is like being engaged in a war. All our friends are going or gone and we survive amongst the dead and the dying as on a battlefield.
Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America - not on the battlefields of Vietnam.
France has lost the battle but she has not lost the war.
The mother's battle for her child with sickness with poverty with war with all the forces of exploitation and callousness that cheapen human life needs to become a common human battle waged in love and in the passion for survival.
Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war.
War is a quarrel between two thieves too cowardly to fight their own battle.
Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
Sometimes by losing a battle you find a new way to win the war.
Strike against war for without you no battles can be fought!
In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten then he who continues the attack wins.
You've got to stand up and do your own battles. My daddy taught me that a long time ago that you fight your own battles. The only way to shut everybody up is to win.
Developments in information technology and globalised media mean that the most powerful military in the history of the world can lose a war not on the battlefield of dust and blood but on the battlefield of world opinion.
When somebody has an enormous success in this culture people start asking two questions which are 'What are you doing now?' and 'How are you going to beat that?' And I have to say I love the assumption that your intention is to beat yourself constantly - that you're in battle against yourself.
Every soldier must know before he goes into battle how the little battle he is to fight fits into the larger picture and how the success of his fighting will influence the battle as a whole.
Raising children is an uncertain thing success is reached only after a life of battle and worry.
The battle of life is in most cases fought uphill and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success if there were nothing to struggle for there would be nothing to be achieved.
How one stands up to any sort of allegation in the heat of political battle reveals the strength and nature of your character. It's one of the reasons we have campaigns.
One column of truth cannot hold an institution of ideas from falling into ignorance. It is wiser that a person of prudence and purpose save his strength for battles that can be won.
When I did 'Battlestar Galactica' it was the first time I really understood science fiction. That was a very political drama but set in spaceships so people didn't really take it seriously. But some really fascinating things were explored in that.